Integration of Engee with equipment
Integration (in the context of this article) implies connecting external equipment to Engee and supporting various data exchange protocols directly in Engee. This allows you to use external interfaces directly in Engee, including CAN adapters, UDP protocols and other devices.
| External hardware, interfaces and protocols are connected and run on the user’s computer, but are available directly in Engee. |
Engee works in a browser and, as a result, does not have direct access to the physical ports of the computer. Restricting browser access to low-level interfaces of the operating system does not allow you to simply connect the equipment and get started right away.
The following interaction architecture is used to solve this problem:
This diagram shows that Engee communicates with a client program installed on the user’s computer. The client program, in turn, works with the physical interfaces of the system (COM ports, USB, etc.) and transmits commands/data to the connected equipment. At the same time, a server on the Engee side is used to organize network interaction between Engee and the client program.
| Before you start, you need to run the client program on the computer to which the equipment is connected. The browser with Engee can be opened both on the same user’s computer and on any other device on the network. This allows you to create "virtual laboratories" and allows multiple users to connect to the same computer, working with equipment directly through Engee. |
Connection to equipment
To connect external hardware to Engee, install the support package by doing the following command in command prompt 
:
engee.package.install("Engee-Device-Manager")If the package is distributed as a zip archive, the path to it must be specified as the named argument zip_path'. For example, if the archive is called `edmv2.4.zip ` and is located in the `distr folder, then use the command:
engee.package.install("Engee-Device-Manager", zip_path="/distr/edmv2.4.zip")After successful installation, a message will be displayed on the command line:
This message will provide a URL for connecting via the client program. Links to download archives with these client programs will also be offered. Select the desired archive depending on your operating system (Windows/Linux):
Download the archive, unzip it and the client program to your computer. After launching, a window will open with a field for entering the URL from the message:
Next, copy the URL from the message on the command line (the text after the Link to connect:), insert it into the client program and click the "Connect" button. The connection status should change to "Connected":
Working with the VISA specification
After installing the hardware support package, as well as connecting via the client program, work with the VISA specification becomes available in the system.
VISA (Virtual Instrument Software Architecture) is a specification developed to unify interaction with measuring instruments. VISA provides an abstraction for communicating with various types of equipment, such as USB, Ethernet, GPIB and other interfaces. Thanks to the client program, Engee gets access to these devices via the server, which allows you to work with them from Engee using Julia.
Working with VISA in Engee allows you to:
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Get a list of available devices;
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Manage available devices — open sessions, send commands, read responses;
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Work with binary data and I/O buffers.
For more information about working with the VISA specification, see the article Working with external equipment via VISA at Engee.
Working with RITM
After installing the support package for working with external equipment and connecting the client program, a module for working with RITM becomes available in the system
RITM is a hardware solution for working with models in real time, providing the ability to integrate and manage processes on real equipment. Using the support package for working with external equipment, Engee gets access to the RITM system and can work with it directly using the Julia programming language.
Working with RITM in Engee allows you to:
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Load and run models on the RITM machine;
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Generate Si strapping for models;
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Compile and run models in different modes (independent or interactive);
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Check the availability of the device and work with files at RITM;
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Get information about the memory consumed by the model and display execution logs.
For more information about working with RITM, see the article Working with external equipment via RHYTHM in Engee.
Software management
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To use the VISA and RITM software management functions, you need to install a package to work with the equipment: |
Read more about the functions in the articles VISA Software Management and Software control of RITM.